Fuel heater for internal combustion engines



July 28, 1936. K. SYMANK FUEL HEATER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Dec. 5, 1934 Patented July 28, 1936 PATENT-(OFFICE fFUEL HEA ER FOR-INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES -Km ,Symank, Mittweida, Germany, 'assignor to p Robert Arnold, London, England Application December 5, 1934, Serial No. 756,147 In Great Britain July 20, 1934' 3 Claims. (01. 257-230) This invention relates to an improved vaporizer for use in connection with apparatus for the supply of combustible mixture to an internal combustion engine Working with middle, heavy 5 or crude oil, which vaporizer is intended to be heated by the exhaust gases of the engine and is of the kind wherein the oil traverses successively a number of tubes connected at their ends by connecting chambers, each of which is adapted to cause the oil to pass in a gas tight manner from one tube to the next one.

In motor cars and the like the space available is very limited and the main object of the present invention is to construct a vaporizer of the kind above referred to, which can be conveniently accommodated in a motor car or the like, and the transverse tubes of which are readily accessible for cleaning purposes.

The vaporizer according to the present invention is so constructed as to conform to the exhaust pipe, being made of approximately the same cross section as the latter and in any case not of a substantially greater cross section. However, as the exhaust pipe is not made of very large diameter, as compared with the width and length of a vaporizer of the kind above referred to, as hitherto constructed, in order to maintain the required length of the tubular path through which the fuel to be vaporized passes,

it is necessary substantially to increase the height of the vaporizer as compared with its cross section. Further, the vaporizer, which thus appears elongated in the direction of its height, has to be fitted as a portion of the exhaust pipe. Now, when a vaporizer is thus fitted it is necessary to ensure that there shall be no unequal expansion in the vaporizer due to the heat acting unequally thereon and thereby prevent destruction of the vaporizer and in addition thereto, the tendency of relative displacement between the latter and the exhaust pipe, which would detrimentally affect the connection between them. With these objects in view the transverse tubes through which the fuel passes are cast in one piece with the casing of the vaporizer fitted as a part of the exhaust pipe.

The two elongated sides of the casting into which the transverse tubes end, are respectively covered by two elongated covers adapted to defleet the passage of the atomized and vaporized fuel from one tube to another, the said covers being made removable so as to enable the tubes to be readily cleaned without it being necessary to remove the vaporizer from the exhaust pipe of which it forms a part.

'In the accompanying drawing'illustrating the invention, byway of exarnple fv j Figure 1 shows the improved vaporizer 'in part sectional elevation;

Figure 2 is a side elevation partly in section, 5

Figure 3 is a plan view.

The improved vaporizer consists of a casting a of preferably rectangular cross section, and two covers 0 the said casting having transverse tubular members 0 for the passage and 10 vaporization of the atomized fuel and an inlet p and outlet q for the exhaust gases which sweep over the said tubular members without being choked in the spaces between them. The covers 0 serve to deflect the atomized fuel from 15 one tube 0 into the next one, and they also enable the tubes to be easily freed of depositions and be cleaned, as by being removed form the casting c to which they are fixed by screw bolts or the like, the tubes thereby being rendered 20 easily accessible. In the example illustrated in the drawing, a number of transverse tubes 0 are arranged in three longitudinal planes, the atomized fuel first passing from the choke tube to the outlet (1 through the tubes in the middle 25 longitudinal plane in succession, being deflected from one tube to the other through passages 0' on the covers 0 and then from the lowest tube into the lowest tubes lying in the two other planes, flowing from tube to tube, to reach the 30 connecting pipe 1 from which it flows to the injecting nozzle. The direction of this flow has been indicated by arrows in Figure 1.

I claim:

1. A vaporizer for internal combustion en- 35 gines working with middle, heavy or crude oil and intended to be heated by the exhaust gases thereof, consisting of a body having an inlet for the heating gases at one end, an outlet therefor at the other end, and an entrance aper- 40 ture for the oil adjacent the inlet opening of the heating gases, at number of open ended transverse tubes cast in one piece with the said body for the passage of atomized oil to be vaporized, said tubes being arranged in a plurality of parallel rows transverse to the current of heating gases, removable side covers facing the open ends of the tubes and forming air-tight joints with the body, one of said covers having an outlet aperture adjacent the inlet aperture for the 50 oil, grooves in said covers each communicating with a pair of tubes and so arranged as to guide the atomized oil from the first tube in the middle row through all of the tubes in the middle row and from, the last tube in the middle 55 row to end tubes in the remaining rows and through the tubes of said remaining rows to said exit opening in the cover.

2. A vaporizer of heavy, middle or crude oil for use in connection with internal combustion engines of the kind comprising a casing attached to the exhaust pipe of the engine so as to be traversed by the exhaust gases, a number of transverse tubes within the said casing for the passage of the oil to be vaporized by the said gases and connecting passages at the ends of the tubes which will ensure that the oil will pass through the various tubes in series, in which the transverse tubes are cast in onepiece with the casing, which is elongated in the direction in which it is interposed in the exhaust pipe to which it is connected at its two ends,- and in which the ends of the transverse tubes are covered by two elongated outside side covers which are adapted to deflect the passage of the vaporized oil from one tube to another and which are removable so as to render thev tubes readily accessible for cleaning purposes without the vaporizer being disconnected from the exhaust pipe.

3. In internal combustion engines for motor cars and the like intended to be operated by a mixture of atomized and vaporized heavy, middle or crude oil or air, the combination with the exhaust pipe of the engine of a vaporizer consisting of a casing of approximately the same transverse cross section as the exhaust pipe and of substantially greater height than the dimensions of its cross section, the said vaporizer casing forming a part of the exhaust pipe, transverse pipes of substantially shorter length than the height of the vaporizer for the passage of the atomized oil'to be vaporized by the heat of the exhaust gases, which tubes are made in one casting with the vaporizer casing, and elongated removable side covers covering the ends of the said transverse tubes and adapted to deflect the passage of the atomized and vaporized oil from one tube to another, for the purposes set forth.

KARL SYMANK. 

